Chapter Five
Xavier drummed his fingers on the wheel, his teeth gritted as Lawson stared out the passenger window.
“They can’t keep getting away with this,” Lawson stated suddenly. “All the problems they’ve been causing around town have gone on for way too long. It has got to stop.”
Lawson had agreed with Xavier the moment he suggested they go to the Haynes’ ranch and talk to them face-to-face.
Might not have been a good idea, since they didn’t exactly have hard proof that the brothers had been the ones to vandalize the generators at the lodge, but they had been causing enough trouble these last few months to at least warrant a visit.
The Haynes brothers, Ron and Dave, were making waves in the small town of Blue Ridge, North Carolina, every time Xavier turned around—or at least, that was what it felt like.
Whether it was squaring up to someone at the local bar, getting drunk and causing a commotion, minor vandalism, or attempting to expand the edges of their property right on to Warrior Peak Sanctuary land, it was enough that someone should step up and show them they weren’t going to get away with it for another moment.
Xavier narrowed his eyes as he stared out on to the dark road ahead of him. The main thing on his mind right now was Hannah. He had heard the fear in her voice when she said she wanted to go back inside the building, and he knew it wasn’t just from the fall she’d taken.
It made him so angry to hear her like that—not angry at her, and not because she didn’t have any reason to be afraid, but because he hadn’t made this place safe enough for her to feel comfortable.
She had been there on the night of the fire, and he could tell she still carried the psychological scars, just like he did.
The dirty cops who had set fire to the lodge property months before had been dealt with, but everyone there was still dealing with the emotional fallout in their own ways.
This incident had stirred all those feelings back up.
So, it needed to be dealt with. Tonight.
“We’re going to have to move everyone down to that crappy hotel in town if we can’t get the heat back up and running by tomorrow morning,” Lawson added. “This is a bad situation, Xavier. We need to make this quick. Everyone at the lodge will be feeling the cold soon. We need to find a fix fast.”
“I know,” Xavier muttered. The sanctuary grounds were supposed to be a safe place, a place where their guests could come to heal, where they could rely on Xavier and Lawson to provide them everything they needed.
At this time of year, heat was the bare minimum.
They would already be waking up to the freezing cold, and Xavier hated the thought of it.
All the more reason to go and confront the Haynes brothers and make sure they understood exactly how seriously Lawson and Xavier took the current situation.
Even if they hadn’t made the attack outright, they probably knew who did.
Something told Xavier they had connections to every shady corner of this community.
And Xavier had seen that there were far darker edges to this town than he would have liked to imagine.
They pulled the SUV up at the Haynes ranch.
The small ranch house at the center of the property was lit up.
Lawson and Xavier exchanged a look, and both of them climbed out of the vehicle.
As they headed up to the building, the older brother, Dave, came stumbling out on to the porch.
The air stank of booze and weed, the thick smell coming off the man in waves.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Dave called to them, clearly unable to tell who it was.
Xavier slowed his pace slightly. “We’re here to talk,” he replied. It was true, though he doubted that would be the only thing they did if they found out that either of the Haynes brothers had been involved in cutting off the power.
“It’s too damn late for a social call,” Dave protested, spitting off the porch just as Xavier reached the bottom step. He was stumbling drunk and had to grab on to the rickety porch railing to keep upright.
“Looks like you’re still up,” Lawson pointed out. “Just about.”
Dave grinned, a crooked smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Xavier felt a wave of anger rush through him. These guys had been trouble for years, ever since he and Max were kids. Even back then, he hadn’t liked either one of them, but if they were thinking of causing serious trouble at Warrior Peak, they had another think coming.
“Soooo what do you want to talk about at this time of night?” Dave slurred, his eyes darting between the two men.
They settled on Xavier for a moment, and he laughed and shook his head.
“Haven’t seen you around here since your little brother was throwing stink bombs on to my father’s property,” he sneered, still clearly holding a grudge against him for it. “What ever happened to Max anyway?”
Lawson sucked in a sharp breath, and Xavier took a step forward. Lawson grabbed his friend’s arm to halt his progress.
Dave knew damn well what had happened to Max, and he was trying to get a rise out of Xavier by bringing him up.
It was working. The animosity between them was heavy on the air but they didn’t have time to get in a skirmish.
They needed to ask their questions and be on their way.
They still had the generators to worry about.
Lawson let go of Xavier’s arm and turned to Dave.
“Look, we didn’t come here for a fight. We just need to know if either of you were up at the lodge tonight? ”
Confusion crossed Dave’s face. “The lodge?” he asked, shaking his head. “What the hell would I want with that place?”
But before he could say another word, the door next to him opened, and Ron came out, holding a shotgun. It was aimed squarely at Xavier, though his grip was clearly shaky from all the partying they’d been doing.
“Get off our property,” he snarled at Xavier, but Xavier wasn’t going to take orders from someone like Ron. He grabbed the gun, twisting it out of Ron’s hand with an almost comical ease. He checked the chamber—empty.
“Maybe try putting some bullets in next time, dumbass,” Xavier told him, as he tossed the gun back to Ron. He caught it awkwardly, and Xavier took a step toward him.
“What about you?” he asked. “Were you up at the lodge tonight?”
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.” Ron was clearly delighted to frustrate Xavier.
“We’ve been here all night,” Dave started waving his arm back and forth between himself and Ron. “Had a little party with some friends.”
Xavier and Lawson shared a glance then Lawson stepped to the side to look through the open door.
Sure enough, there were beer cans scattered around and what looked like a poker table set up inside.
Lawson caught Xavier’s eye and shook his head.
It looked like they’d been set up here for a while playing cards.
Plus, they looked too wasted to be behind a wheel.
They could barely stand up without help.
“Any of your friends been there, that you know of? Or have you heard of anyone wanting to mess with us?” Xavier asked, watching them both for signs of nervousness or deceit.
Ron shook his head then walked toward the door, gesturing inside. “Look, man. Like my brother said, we’ve been here. We don’t know anything about trouble. See for yourself.” He motioned for the two men to step inside.
Xavier stepped forward and peeked inside, confirming what Lawson had seen. Poker table, chairs, snacks, and empty beer cans littered the area.
Lawson gestured to Xavier and turned toward the vehicle. Xavier followed his retreat, stopping at the bottom of the steps to leave the brothers with a warning.
“You guys stay away from the sanctuary property,” Xavier told them both.
Ron rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Sure thing, captain!” He gave Xavier a mock salute. Dave snickered at his brother’s antics.
Xavier shook his head in frustration as he settled behind the wheel.
“Make sure we don’t see you there,” Lawson warned them one more time, before climbing in the passenger seat.
Xavier felt the anger buzzing through his system, but now, it had nowhere to go.
He doubted the brothers had anything to do with what had happened over at the lodge that night, given the state they were in.
But even though they most likely didn’t personally mess with the generators earlier didn’t mean they were completely innocent.
They were known for causing all sorts of mischief, but it really didn’t seem logical that they’d cause that kind of disruption in the middle of winter when they knew that the power was more important than ever at the lodge with guests inside.
“What do you think?” Lawson asked.
“I don’t know,” Xavier replied tersely.
It seemed unlikely the brothers would have managed to pull off something that focused and specific, even at the best of times.
They weren’t known for having a brain cell between them.
Doing something like that would take actual coordination, and they didn’t seem to have the capability to do that.
They were more likely to use intimidation or petty destruction than they were to come to the sanctuary in freezing weather to cut the power. It seemed too specific, too direct.
Which meant someone else must have done it.
But who? And did they have anything to do with the way Xavier’s room had been rummaged through the other night?
He doubted that had been the Haynes brothers.
They would have been out of place and someone would have noticed.
Whoever had done it clearly knew how to pull it off without leaving a trace of their identity.
He was sure the clumsiness of the Haynes brothers would have left some sign of them behind.
“Me, neither,” Lawson admitted with a sigh. “But we can keep an eye on them these next few days. They might not have done it themselves, but it seems like the kind of thing they might have paid or blackmailed someone to do.”
“Could be,” Xavier replied. He didn’t bring up his room again—he was sure he didn’t need to. Lawson would already have that on his mind right now, and Xavier didn’t need to push it to the front of the conversation again.
“Anyway, we should get back to the lodge,” Lawson added. “We’re going to need the whole night to get the generators working again. And I don’t want anyone to wake up tomorrow with no heat and nothing to eat.”
Xavier could already feel his heart sinking at the prospect, but Lawson was right. As the guys who ran the place, they had a duty of care to everyone who stayed there, everyone who relied on them.
His mind drifted to Hannah before he could stop it. How quickly he reacted when he saw her hit the ground. It hadn’t been intentional, but he knew Lawson would have noticed.
He had done everything he could to try to keep the truth of his feelings for her under wraps, but at times like this, they came out before he could stop them from showing.
He just wanted her to be okay. The same thing had happened on the night of the fire.
As soon as he had seen the flames licking the horizon, the first thing on his mind was what he could do to keep her safe.
He started the drive back to the sanctuary, lost in his thoughts, trying to nod in the right places as Lawson talked to him, discussing what they were going to do when they got back to the lodge.
Lawson frowned at him as Xavier pulled the SUV to a halt outside the lodge, looking over at him with an inquisitive expression again. “What’s on your mind?” he asked.
Xavier tried to keep his face neutral. “Nothing. Just trying to figure out how we’re going to fix the generators.”
That was only half of the truth—and far removed from anything Lawson wouldn’t have been able to take, especially with everything else they had to deal with right then. If Lawson had any idea Xavier was stuck thinking about his little sister, he would have freaked out.
It was safer for everyone if Xavier kept his mouth shut and focused on the task at hand. Even if the only thing on his mind right now was Hannah.